CRIME DROP MIRRORS FALLING POPULARITY OF CRACK COCAINE

Use of drug sparked violent turf wars

Ask researchers what's responsible for the nation's recent drop in juvenile
crime, and they'll mention the decline in the use of crack cocaine.

When this potent form of cocaine began hitting city streets on both coasts
in the early 1980s, intense turf wars between rival sellers began erupting
into deadly gunfights that sent the U.S. crime rate among juveniles
soaring.

More than a decade later, research is showing that the demand for the drug
began to subside in coastal cities in the early 1990s and so has the
competition among dealers.

"Crack is going away and probably isn't coming back," said Richard
Rosenfeld, a professor of criminology at the University of Missouri at St.
Louis.

In a 1996 study, researchers studied crack use among those recently
arrested in major cities around the country to track the crack epidemic. In
the early 1990s, cities like New York and Los Angeles - which were the
first to witness the growth of the crack cocaine - began to see significant
decrease in drug use among those arrested.

By the mid-'90s, cities in the nation's heartland began to see demand for
the drug decrease as well.

According to a 1997 study on crack abuse in 24 cities, crack abuse in St.
Louis began to drop about 1996. According to the study, 44 percent of
arrested juveniles who were tested for the study had crack cocaine in their
systems in 1989; that dropped to 30 percent by 1996.

Crack helped fuel the increase in violent crime because it was a drug that
created plenty of opportunities for sales. A crack high sometimes lasts
only between eight and 15 minutes, and that meant users have to make
numerous buys from dealers. i

The high frequency of drug buys and the intense competition between an
ever-growing number of dealers often ended in violent confrontations,
almost always involving guns.

Researchers give several reasons for the decline in the crack trade.

Many users either died or are now in prison, and that lessened the numbers
of potential buyers.

Also, the dealers who survived the bloody years learned how to avoid the
dangers and built a steady base of regular customers. In addition, many
youngsters began to reject the crack trade after watching older siblings
die or go to prison for their involvement.

Rosenfeld, of UMSL, said it doesn't appear that many drugs gaining in
popularity could spark a similar increase in violent crimes. Marijuana,
heroin and methamphetamine abuse is growing is Missouri and nationally, but
none of those involves the intense sales sparked by crack, he said.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson